Staff chief Jim Coon to leave transportation panel

Jim Coon, the affable but tough staff director for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is heading out the door.

Coon, who has been GOP staff director for the committee since 2007, is leaving Capitol Hill for one of the “alphabet soup” aviation trade groups, the National Air Transportation Association. There, he’ll serve as an executive vice president focused on government affairs. He’ll be leaving the committee at year’s end.

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Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the transportation committee chairman, who himself may not be at the head of the panel next year if he is denied a term-limit waiver, is sending Coon off with a glowing review.

“Jim Coon is a man of extraordinary talent who provided wise counsel, steady leadership and a steely determination to get things done in a very challenging operating environment,” Mica said in a statement to POLITICO. “His legacy on the committee is one of great achievement and on behalf of the entire committee, I thank him for his service and wish him the very best.”

Coon’s self-deprecating manner belies his nerve: He’s known as a tough and savvy negotiator and his departure will leave big shoes to fill. During his most recent tenure on the committee, Coon helped guide the transportation bill through a difficult course and also saw through to completion a contentious FAA reauthorization bill. He also helped bring up to speed an enormous segment of the freshman class that landed in the committee ranks in 2010. And thanks to his earlier tenure on the committee, he has had a hand in almost all of the aviation policies crafted since the mid-1990s.

His advice for whoever his successor might be? “Treat others as you want to be treated,” he said. “Understand that folks may have a differing opinion or view on policies, and you need to respect that — but at the same time, stay with your principles.”

The next staff director for the committee will have the same difficult task Coon did — trying to push through another surface transportation bill; the current one, enacted earlier this year, will expire in 2014. “It’s really important that Congress works on a long-term, fiscally responsible bill — it’s just too important not to get it done,” Coon said.

Snagging Coon is a huge get for NATA, which represents aviation service providers such as charter operators, aircraft management companies, maintenance and repair organizations, flight training outfits and fixed base operators.

Coon has a heavy aviation background: Prior to his time as staff director for the full committee, he was staff director for the Aviation Subcommittee beginning in 2004. Prior to that, he was director of legislative affairs for Boeing and also for the Air Transport Association (now Airlines for America).

Coon said he’s always been personally interested in aviation and has “by and large stuck with that throughout my career.”

He was working for ATA during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Coon helped steer the organization’s lobbying effort through the post-attack bailout of the airline industry as well as securing all-important war-risk insurance to shield airlines from liability related to terrorist incidents.

Prior to his industry work, Coon had a separate stint on the Aviation Subcommittee, as well as time in the personal offices of Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) and former Rep. Robert E. Smith (R-Ore.).

“It’s been a wonderful career; I have enjoyed so much working with so many people … bright, intelligent people, who are really tasked with an incredible responsibility,” Coon said.